How To | Spring - Carrot Door Hanger made from Tulips

I took on one of the most popular projects on Pinterest, the Spring Carrot Door Hanger, and here is what I created last night...

The first thing I did was purchase my supplies: 
3 Orange colored Tulip Bushes from Michaels Craft Store $9.99 each - on sale for $5.99 each ( 14 stems on each bunch)
1 Garden Market Greens Bush from Michaels Craft Store $12.99 - on sale for $7.79

The next thing I did was gather up some supplies I thought I may need:
Wire Cutters ( yes mine are very old and have seen many craft projects)
Green Florist Tape ( to tape the stems together and to cover the wire)
Green Paddle Wire
Ribbon for the Bow ( I used a leftover piece of finely wired ribbon that complimented the tulips color, length to be determined by the size of the bow needed.)

 

By laying the three tulips bushes atop of each other to photograph, I got the general idea of what the project look would be.  But I did need to get the bottom layer "point" of the carrots so I knew that would mean some wiring together just single stems of flowers. 
I cut one (1) bush apart closest to the bottom of each stem and stacked them on the side.  The two (2) remaining bushes will be wired to the piece in their entirety and then "fanned out".
Before you begin, remove all LEAVES from the bushes.  You will not be using them.
Here is how I wired the first group of three tulips.

Now that my first cluster is wired, I wired three (3) more tulips, in more of a "next to each other" pattern (as shown in the second photo), not in a point as the first cluster shows.  Then I attached those to the first set of three and covered the wire with the green floral tape.  I like the floral tape because it prevents sharp edges from poking me as I work and it prevents the wire from scratching the door surface if it moves when opening and closing the door. 

The next row will have six (6) tulips and these too will be laid next to each other and fanned out a bit.  Don't worry if yours doesn't match mine.  I came to find that a little bit of "fixing" needs to be done with the end project to get everything to lay well. You will wire the six tulips together and then attach them to the piece making the tulips as close to each other without overlapping them. ( as shown below). Remember to wrap with floral tape too. 

I could have wrapped the floral tape completely down the stems of the tulips but I wasn't sure how it would look from the front of the completed piece.  

 

Next, I took one full bush (14 stems) and fanned them out a bit, and laid them on top of the cluster I already made of (3), (3), and (6) tulips. You want the heads of the tulips to again lay next to the previous cluster but not too much on top of them.  Imagine they are a grouping of carrots. Little spaces between them are okay but try to shift them to both sides of the piece to make it appear full. 
Carefully wire them to the end of the cluster.  Floral tape the wire. There will be two tulips left.  I added them when I was finished to any places I thought needed it.

 

Now the second full bush of tulips can be wired to the cluster, again with the tulip heads close to the last group of tulips and again I fanned out the bush to make them lay across the pile and not on top of each other.

The (photo below) shows the back view of the completed piece. 
As you work with the piece you will see and "feel" where an extra bit of wiring may be needed. You want the piece to be secure and to look beautiful from the front.  That is the not-taped wire you see.

 

 Now that you have all of the flowers wired together, with the stem bottoms facing at the top, you will need to add the greens bush to look like the carrots greens.

I placed the "greens" bush stem against the tulips stem and wired and taped them together.  This greens bush has many long pieces that cascade down both sides of the "carrots" as well as having a few shorter pieces of greens that help cover up the tulips stems.

I took a small piece of wire at the top of the shorter greens ends and wired it to the tulip stems stump. I did this to prevent the stems from showing through.
I covered the wire that joins the stems to the greens in the middle, but only there.  I wanted to keep the green stems up from the tulips and down from the greens to make it appear more "realistic".
Then it was time for the bow.
I took two long pieces of the ribbon and wrapped it around and tied a simple bow. You can trim the bow to your own liking.

Last but not least....I needed a wire loop for a hanger.
On the back of the piece where the tulips stems are bound, and I fastened the shorter greens to with a wire...that is where I attached a wire loop.
And then it was off to hang it!
Final Thoughts:
Take your time and enjoy the process of creating this adorable piece. If your getting frustrated, put it down, walk away from it and make a cup of tea...then come back to it with fresh creative thoughts.

 

Against my bright red front door, this charming spring Carrots piece welcomes both spring and Easter to my visitors.